True Freedom
by Catriona-Yagri
Summary: Because Alucard has poor impulse control and Zero is running. No one should die alone, and birds in a cage don't sing.
1. Chapter 1 Nightmare

Ichirou snarled at his twin, his mirror image, face twisted and distorted with fury. His hands shook at his side as he struggled to stand in the thick fog that surrounded the two brothers.

"I HATE YOU! I've NEVER cared about you. You're weak – you've taken everything from me! This was YOUR fault! You should have been born the weaker one. You were supposed to protect me! You stole my strength, my parents – EVERYTHING! They only wanted you because you were strong. You took everything from me! You're just a monster – a pathetic mutt hiding under my brother's skin!" Ichirou paused for breath, lowering his head. "You don't deserve to live."

He raised his hand, a sword coalescing into it from the mist that surrounded them. He rushed towards Zero, before raising the sword to swing at his neck, only for it to vanish and Ichirou to stagger back a step as invisible claws ripped through his chest. He looked at Zero for a moment, while teeth tore open his shoulder. He reached up towards the wound with a stunned look on his face.

"Brother… How could you?"

The dream shifted then. Zero towered over Ichirou, who stood in the door to the room where their parent's bodies lay. Tears ran down Ichirou's face as he looked up at Zero before he asked "Brother… why?"

Zero gasped for breath, sitting up on his bed as he fought off the effects of the vivid nightmare. The sun was still below the horizon, but the LED lights on the alarm clock told him it was only a few minutes past five AM. Three months (He could almost taste the blood) had passed since the Rido Incident, and each night had been a bombardment of nightmares featuring Ichirou as the main character. The new nightmare had blended into his old ones from after his parents deaths, although in truth Ichirou's death had been more upsetting then theirs. Despite his brother having enjoyed the screams of their parents and leaving with the woman who had killed them, (leaving him alone, so cold, hurts-) if Zero tried to say that he didn't miss his brother it would be a lie. He had felt more grief and pain at the death of his counterpart (his broken mirror, jagged and shattered and bleeding nonono-) than his parents – perhaps because Ichirou had been the last living member of his family and he'd (Don't leave me!) killed him.

By now, he'd forgiven Ichirou (just a monster, but aren't we all?) for his parents deaths (can't hate him, he's my-) even understood why he'd done it, that feeling of worthlessness and envy and hatehatehatehate-

(…why, you ask?)

(…you're weak ….)

(…nii-chan…)

(…Idon'twanttodie…)

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Pain flared from the binding that was etched into his neck, causing him to roll form his bed to the floor as he curled into a ball. He fumbled at the bedside table, feeling for the small tin box of pills that would cause this pain to subside, if only for a little while. He felt his leg slam against the wall, as he managed to grab the box and shake two pills in to his hand. He brought his trembling hand to his mouth, barely avoiding biting down on it when he forced himself to dry swallow the pills. He clamped one hand to glowing runes on his neck and snarled in pain as he continued to convulse on the floor. This was one of the worst attacks he'd had since Rido.

After 20 or so minutes of spasms and snarling, the pills took effect and he hauled himself to his knees. He was sweating heavily, and felt more than a little nauseous. Zero pulled himself upright, swaying unsteadily as he made his way into the bathroom to take a shower. He paused to turn on the stereo, hopefully reassuring the elderly lady that lived next door that he hadn't died. She was aware of his seizures, but he'd convinced her it was just epilepsy and she had no reason to worry. She was often over with tea and biscuits, along with tales of her grandchildren, her cats and Mrs. Cynthia-across-the-road's affair. She meant well, and the biscuits were nice.

Hell would freeze over before he touched that tea. What was so wrong with coffee, anyway?

* * *

Zero stumbled when his cell phone rung shrilly as he returned to the room after finishing his shower, erasing the traces of his recent episode of bloodlust. He cursed as he banged his shin against the table in his rush to pick up before he missed the caller – Kaito, by the sound of the ringtone.

"Zero."  
"Sure. N-Yeah. I'll meet you at the association."  
He hung up on Kaito and sighed. This was just what he needed. His morning had started off with a nightmare about his little brother, been followed by an attack of blood lust and would now continue with a meeting with The Idiot, also known as Cross. Brilliant – no really, this was the best day he could have imagined.

If you believed that, he just happened to have a bridge in Brooklyn that was up for sale.

He idly wondered if he could 'forget' the meeting and just go back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

* * *

The association headquarters, Zero thought, were an architectural abomination.

It was a large, Gothic cathedral which dominated the skyline and towered over the homes and businesses around it. Hunters moved about their daily lives with little fear of discovery in this town – it wasn't uncommon to see people armed to the teeth headed into the cathedral while people walked past in casual clothes carrying nothing but their shopping. Children played tag and Hunt the Vampire in the streets while the few elderly hunters kept an eye on the children and gossiped with one another. Cross Academy was less than half an hour's drive away, while the rest of the world believed it to be a small religious commune. A few outlying farms and the docks stood outside the walls, but there was only two roads leading to the commune – one to the academy and one to the nearby city where Zero was currently renting his apartment.

He walked slowly down the street, peering into the window displays and loitering on corners as he tried to stall his meeting for as long as possible. Honestly, he hadn't really had any good luck for quite some time (unless you counted that as not dying.) Maybe he should consider the possible truth behind those quiet mentions of his curse among the Vampire Hunter's Association rookies. He certainly tended to be unlucky – Ichirou, Rido, this morning's debacle… the list went on. He walked across the last intersection between him and the cathedral before slowly walking up the stairs.

Kaito sauntered out from the shadows behind the churches façade, looking somewhat irked. This suited Zero perfectly – he was in a bad mood, so he'd go out of his way to ensure that he spread the misery around as much as possible.

"Took your time, didn't you? I was beginning to wonder if you'd even show up. C'mon, our so-called president is inside waiting on you." Kaito smirked at Zero, ignoring his glare with the ease of long practice. "So…. Why were you late? Ran into a pretty lady?"

Zero scowled at him. "Let's get this over with. The sooner we're done with this, the sooner I can go back to sleep. Just give me my target so I can go."

"Not in the mood to see old friends, are you Zero? So impatient… I came all this way to see you and you won't even talk to me. Master Yagari has your mission, but seeing as I'm bored and you've been so cruel to me… why, I think I'll walk you up there, Zero. Come along now, we mustn't keep Master Yagari waiting… Cross is up there with him, and I don't want to be the one to clean up that mess."

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**Neither I nor my Beta, Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing. Higitsune does, however regularly loan me the anime.**

**Please read and review.**

**please review if you review I will up date even faster and my Beta will edit faster meaning faster story for you.**

**Alucard should turn up in Chapie 3-4 oh and any suggestions on pairings are welcome I haven't decided**

**:)**

**Catriona-Yagri**


	2. Chapter 2 Meetings

**Neither I nor my Beta, Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing. Higitsune does, however regularly loan me the anime.**

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CH2

The inside of the Association headquarters were a dark grey, with knife marks and bullet holes in the plaster. For a building as large as this, you would assume it would be just as large on the inside, but walled off cubicles and offices took up most of the cathedral. A group of teens occupied the shooting range while a few of the younger children trained with their instructor on mats laid down in the meeting room. Beneath the cathedral was a veritable labyrinth of passages and cells, along with the records room, library and armoury. Above the cubicle, a balcony had been constructed to house the President's office, which was where Kaito had led him.

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"What" Zero said in a voice that sounded more akin to that of an animal's growl than a human's conversation "is oh-so-special about this mission that I've been called to your office like a disobedient child?"

He leant against the stone wall next to the door, choosing to keep his escape routes – out the window, through the door but then he'd have to fight Kaito – clear and refusing to offer Cross his back. Maybe he was paranoid, but his instincts (they may have been vampiric in origin, but they were useful) were screaming at him that he wasn't safe here.

Cross sat at his desk, a pile of paperwork in front of him and several more beside him, glanced up at Zero before returning to his paperwork. Behind him, he heard the lock turn and knew that on escape route had been cut off. He'd have to go through the window if anything happened then. He waited another five or so minutes before his frayed temper snapped.

"Cross. Why am I here?"

Kaien Cross sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, disturbing his glasses and smudging ink onto his face. The man looked as though he hadn't slept in a good three or four days, clothing creased and slumped in his chair. The pile of paperwork in the tray labelled 'OUT' was small, considering the size of the stacks of to his side and before him.

"From the reports I've been receiving, a group of Level E's have set themselves up in a container ship, next scheduled to dock not too far from here. There are… concerns that these may have been left over from the… incident. The one with Rido." He looked fairly serious for once, likely too exhausted to behave the happy-go-lucky fool as he usually did.

Zero scowled. "So, am I taking this hunt on my own or are Kaito or Yagari coming along to _supervise _me."

"Well, if you hadn't so rudely interrupted me, I would have _told_ you! The other hunters have demanded that the rookies get some field experience. As such, you've been assigned a group to take along to observe your mission. I tried to have them reassigned, but there isn't anyone else available at the moment. I know you hate working with others, but there's no one else who can take them at the moment. It's just _one_ mission. Surely you can tolerate them for a little while?"

Zero sighed. He was definitely cursed. First his nightmare, then bloodlust, a meeting with Cross, dealing with _rookies_ and he'd hit his shin this morning. The day just kept getting better. He glanced up at Cross and opened his mouth to try and find a way around having to take the rookie hunters with him on a mission, only for Cross to hold up a hand to stop him and continue speaking.

"You don't have the option to decline, Zero. They need the experience and you need to learn to work with people your own age – lone wolves like yourself tend to get themselves killed eventually, after all. Report back to headquarters at 0600, I'll have Kaito get the rookies armed up and ready to go. Yagari will undoubtedly want to give them a quick rundown of the usual speech – stay out of the way, get killed on your own time and his other bits of advice, so if they report in at 0500 they'll be ready to go around 0630, which will give me some time to run through the full briefing with you before you depart. Go get yourself something to eat, the cafeteria's been moved again but it's fairly easy to find. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Zero nodded and waited for Kaito to unlock and open the door. He'd skipped eating breakfast after having to take his pills, and he'd need to pick up a refill or two while he was here. He might even go to the cafeteria, although he'd probably go to the kitchens and make something himself.

Cross continued working through the stack of paperwork before him, sorting reports from requisition forms and financial statements. He'd finish what he could today, draft a briefing for Zero and then get a few hours' sleep before the rookies got here. It was only as he paged through the repair budget for the shooting range that he found the black envelope with the red symbol painted where the return address would usually sit. He buried his face in his hands and cursed his predecessor and their foolishness. No matter how deeply you buried some secrets, they would never go away

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**Please Review it would be Great and I'd feel more motivated to get a chapter written up this weekend ****and Feel free to put up characters that you want to make an appearance,****and to the person who flamed me if your still reading this thanks for lighting the fire for toasting marshmallows ****and th is spelt the.**

** Also a message to future flamers please cheek your grammar and spelling, that annoys me more than the comments cause how else am I going to know your flaming me if you don't spell it right.**

**Catriona-Yagri.**


	3. Chapter 3 Ready

**Neither I nor Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing. Thank you to Higitsune for continuing to edit my work even during her final exams. Good luck!**

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It was still dark when Zero woke up. He was about forty-five minutes away from headquarters, so he'd gotten up at five. By the time he'd made his way into the building and walked up to the president's office, it was around twenty minutes past six in the morning. Yagari could be heard lecturing in the meeting room below, so he was fairly sure Cross would be ready to brief him on the hunt.

The door to Cross's office opened, and Zero entered the room and slouched against the wall. Cross returned to his desk, carefully avoiding stacks of paper work. Once he'd sat down, he dug out a folder that he place on the edge of the desk and began his briefing.

"Good morning, Zero. The hunt is for a group of Level E's that are believed to be aboard a container ship travelling between Japan and England. According to the documents we've found, the ship is scheduled to arrive at the city docks at 1300, but I'd prefer it if you had everyone in position by 0930. The ship has been showing up early or late for the last few stops, so it may be early here as well." Cross paused for a moment, glancing away from the papers in his hands.

"If we don't catch it at this stop, its next destination is England, and our breed of Vampire has yet to set foot on that continent. There's another organisation over there, but… well, if you run into them, I wouldn't recommend mentioning our association. Pretend you're a freelancer, or perhaps an innocent bystander. They don't like other organisations on their territory. If you hear someone say that they are from the Vatican section XIII, or refer to themselves as paladin, retreat immediately. There is a reason why we only hunt within our borders – most countries have their own organisation and none of them get along." He adjusted his glasses and glanced nervously at the rubbish bin beside the desk, which contained a black envelope and several sheets of shredded paper.

"If you can kill the whole group here that would be the best outcome we can hope for. It's suspected that they may have someone in charge, but it's uncertain as to how many there are or if the entire crew are vampires. Some may be completely unaware of the threat travelling with them. As such, be as discrete as possible. The more people's memories we erase, the more likely someone is to notice something." He shuffled through some of the papers in front of him before adding a form to the folder in front of him.

"Sign out a silencer from the armoury before you pick up the rookies. You've got a squadron of seven with you, but they should be able to work in pairs or small groups attacking any stragglers while you handle the main group. The ship will be in port for around a day, as it's only here to refuel and replenish supplies. After that, it'll be about a month long trip to England. Don't let any of the vampire reach England, especially if there is an Aristocrat or Common vampire with them." He looked at Zero for a few seconds, gauging his reaction to the situation so far.

"...It's unlikely to be a pureblood, but this seems a little subtle for Level E's to be the only ones involved." He grabbed another form and signed it before it joined the others in the folder.

"The rookies are, I'm assured, competent enough to mostly function on their own with minimal supervision. So long as they are in a group of three or four, they should be able to handle one or two Level E's by themselves. I wouldn't put too much faith in that assessment though, seeing as it's their first time in the field. Try to bring them back alive. Some of their parents have a decent amount of influence here, and I'd rather not deal with them if they try to cause trouble over one of their children dying on a hunt." Cross sighed wearily, before he stood and walked over to Zero and handed him the folder.

"Good luck. Remember to take your phone with you. If you need back-up, call. Yagari should have his phone on him as well, but I'll be in meetings and doing paperwork so my phone may be on silent."

Zero nodded and walked out of the room. Cross was... unusually stressed, likely due to the paperwork that seemed to be required for everything now. Even signing out a weapon for a hunt took about five minute of paperwork. Thankfully, it wasn't his responsibility.

He wandered down to the armoury, picked up a silencer and handed the form that Cross had given him over to sign it out.

Now, how to introduce himself to the rookies?

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**Chapter four is on its way, but Alucard's had to shuffle back a little. He'll arrive around Chapter Seven, sorry. Higitsune scolded me for trying to work all of that into one chapter before she divided it into three chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4 Betrayal

**Neither I nor my Beta, Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing.**

**Hello I haven't been able to update cause I had rowing and I have a Camp coming up at the end of term so a chapter wont be up until I get some free time but I swear I have 2 more chappies beta'd and I swear they will get done soon faster if you review and at the moment the pairings are undecided.**

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The docks, thought Zero, were now his least favourite place in the world. The place was formerly held by Cross Academy, which had now dropped to second place.

He'd arrived with the rookies at roughly half-past nine. There were no signs of the ship at the docks, so he'd split the seven rookies into two groups. A pair of rookies would stand guard at the entrance of the ship once it arrived, while the other five were broken into a group of three and another pair before being sent to find locations that would allow them to shoot any Level E's that attempted to escape Zero.

He'd decided to clear the deck first before investigating the shipping containers to ensure the lack of Level E vampires, at which point he'd bring the groups on deck to cover the cabins and entrance to below deck while he hunted down any remaining vampires.

By the time the ship arrived, they'd been waiting around for an hour or so. Several of its crew members had disembarked and were arranging the transfer of some of the cargo. Two were sent to into town likely to purchase supplies for the long the month long trip to England. One crew member was organising fuel for the ship with a dock worker both haggling fiercely over prices.

He signalled to the rookies to move to their assigned positions before he walked aboard the ship. The deck seemed empty, after making a quick check of area before gesturing to a pair of rookie hunters forward to stand at the ships entrance.

Passing several containers, Zero held up a hand to signal the other two to join him stop before walking over cautiously to a container that just seemed off. He opened the rust covered door, walking into it while the two rookies covered him from outside the container.

The container was dark, although the open door illuminated a little of the area. Zero slowly sauntered into the container, drawing Bloody Rose from its holster as he scanned around the large container for anything that might indicate something roughly human sized. The gun had been a gift from Cross – a derivative from the designs for a .45 calibre Colt M1911 and the AMT Hardballer Longslide. It was made the metal that Hunters had been gifted by the Hooded Woman. After Ichiru's death it had changed, allowing him to use metallic vines that were covered with thorns as weapons, becoming part of his body. Unfortunately, it fuelled this ability with his blood, and considering his episode of bloodlust only yesterday, he wouldn't be able to use them anytime soon. He'd chosen to manifest the gun in its original form for today, a weapon that could only kill vampires, considering the likelihood of crew members having remained aboard the ship.

He span around towards the door, wrenched from his thoughts at the sound of rapid foots steps behind him to be confronted by a pair of level E's rushing into the container. Another smashed into him from within the container, tackling him to the ground then kicking Bloody Rose into a corner. He felt the vines begin to manifest, but held them back – he couldn't risk an episode here.

Zero threw his head back, hearing more than feeling the Level E's nose break from the force. He rolled out from under it and scrambled to his feet. The two who had distracted him from sensing the other looked uncertain as to what they should do, frozen in place. The other writhed in pain on the floor of the container, hands clutching his nose. Where were the rookies? He glanced around for Bloody Rose, determined to end this as quickly as he could so he could check if the pair he'd brought aboard were dead or incompetent, could be either -

The doors swung shut with a creek, drowning the four in darkness. The lock was heard as it scraped closed, accompanied by mocking laughter. Zero took a seconded to contemplate the appropriate response to such a situation, and then swore violently before waiting for his eyes to adjust, trying to remember where the trio had been standing. It only took a few seconds, aided by the minimal light that seeped in from cracks in the container walls and under its door.

One of the Level E's had a somewhat impressed look on his face and was mouthing some of its newly acquired language. The vampire who's nose Zero had broken was glaring as best as it could with watery eyes, its nose askew and blood dripping down its face. The other was sniffing the air almost like a dog, seemingly confused. Its eyes snapped open, glowing slightly in the dim lighting. She stepped towards Zero cautiously; fingers slowly lengthening into claws as he continued to expand their vocabulary. It seemed to be a signal to the others, who backed away from the cursing hunter. She continued to approach the distracted hunter, lashing out the second she was within range.

Zero felt the warmth on his stomach a second before the pain of five deep slashes raced through his nervous system. He raised his head to see the female licking the blood from her claws less than a meter away from him. The Level E with the broken nose was approaching him, while the last one had settled to guard the corner where his gun, Bloody Rose, lay. Good. After all, if the door was locked then he could use the vines without having to worry about the rookies and possible innocent bystanders...

He grabbed his phone from his pocket and put it on the ground to prevent it from being too badly damaged during the fight. Once he'd dealt with the three, he could call Cross to send someone to get him out of here. Wait – Cross had said that the ship was only here for a day. He'd have to hurry. He doubted he'd survive a month long trip to England. Perhaps he should just incapacitate the Level E's?

The female was grinning at him, the male behind her drooling slightly at the scent of blood. A third set of eyes glowed a sullen shade of red from the corner. He had no weapons that he could reach apart from the vines that would send him into bloodlust, and found a new set of rather creative words as two of the Level E's advanced.

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**Thank you for reading and yes it is official alucard will show in Chappie 7**

**Catriona-yagri**

******Higitsune**

******we thank you don't forget to review Please :)**


	5. Chapter 5 To England

**Neither of these anime's belong to me sadly (Ichiru wouldn't have died) but like other people on this website we love to rewrite stuff for our entertainment and I would just like to say OMG I yes yes I am of the living persuasion and also many thanks to people revieing and I have said it once and I shall say it again please review i would feel so much more motivated to bug my editor to hurry up and edit so it's up to you my beloved fans actuaaly it's not up to you but I am a budding writer please give reviews constructive stuff not meaningless flames that only help me toast virtual marshmallows oh well on with the story.**

**Catriona-Yagri.**

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Zero cursed to himself, nursing the wounds that went through his stomach. The level E that had managed to give him the severe wound was lying in the corner of his cage that previously bloody rose had been. She was the only to get close enough to even think of giving him a wound that damaging or painful, was this the pain that his younger brother went through before the last of his life deserted him, Zero thought. The other two were in much the same way; all three had had a bullet placed in each knee to stop them from attacking Zero in his state.

It had been around twelve hours according to his watch, since he had boarded the ship, about six hours ago the crew had boarded the ship laughing and joking as well as sounding a bit more than a little was risky to call for help yet every cry for help had been ignored until his voice had gone horse and still none came.

His black trench coat had been used as a blanket as the temperature plummeted. Eventually he fed of the Level E that had wounded him running out of other options, no one came even as her screams rang louder as they bounced and echoed off the walls of the container. Surprisingly the other two did not even attempt to interfere. As he drank he made up his mind, he would reach England alive(Yes, survive) make his way back to japan and then find out who locked him in here and, make them scream be they vampire, human or… hunter.  
He didn't know what had happened to the rookies his first thought went to I hoped they weren't stupid enough to get themselves killed, he'd gotten several calls and texts off to Cross as well as Yagari before the ship got out of range. Shit, he thought "looks like I'm going to England but when I get back mark my words the little shits that locked that door you will burn, your families will burn and then your friends, but for now you can think I'm dead because my prey I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN" he said to himself just like he swore to kill Shizuka Hio only this time the culprits would not get off easy like she did.

* * *

Zero gave up counting the days his watch was wrecked thanks to the male Level E that now lay in a corner groaning in pain from Zero feeding from him as well as from the chunks off flesh that were missing from his arm. Zero lay on the blood covered floor of the container his hair slowly turning from its usual sliver to a dirty red from the blood on the ground staining it. Zero knew that if he looked in a mirror he be a mess, his shirt had been ripped to from a make shift bandage over his now burning and inflamed wound blood seeping through if he moved to much. His mouth was most definitely red from blood and he was sure that his fangs had not been retracted his eyes were most likely red from blood lust. The cleanest thing he had was probably his black trench coat which was made to not show blood.  
He'd adjusted to the darkness after a while and had discovered he was very good at making snarky conversation with himself at first he was bothered by the growing signs that he was going insane soon he got used to it. It had been around 3 weeks of travel so far if he had the date right he might not so approximately one week till England he could survive another week on his rather cannibalistic diet. The only other information that he'd learned was that the ship was involved in the smuggling trade from illegal drugs to human trafficking, that was probably the reason no one came to help him. One thing that puzzled him was the mention of smuggling FREAK chips past Hellsing something was just off putting about the both names and he had no idea what.

The wound in his stomach had stopped bleeding, but was now redder than before as well as swollen it was difficult to move and he was now fairly sure it was infected given the amount of heat it was giving off and the pus that oozed out of it when he moved. He had a fairly sever fever, recognising the bouts of sweating and shivering as symptoms. He hoped that it hadn't seeped into his blood but from the bouts of nausea and yagari's teachings he was fairly certain that he was heading towards septic shock and if that happened the he wouldn't live to get to a hospital much less japan. As he looked at his options he already made his mind in the first week off his stay in his steal cage he repeated it in a frenzied whisper his motivation to continue his life "you will burn, your families will burn and then your friends, but for now you can think I'm dead because my prey I will hunt you down" each time be coming more frenzied as a gleam of insaity settled into his red glowing eyes the desperate the words where suddenly his reason to live to make sure that this person who attempted to kill him for whatever reason died before he fell and he would do it no matter what he would smile as he watched the person burn the join him in hell."You will burn, your families will burn and then your friends, but for now you can think I'm dead because my prey, I. Will. Hunt. You. Down."

"I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN"

A crazed laugh rang across the deck of the ship, the crew stopped and looked over to the stack of containers that the sound came from, there was silence untill the frist mate of the ship said "well who ever that was he's finished danceing on the ege and decided to jump off the cliff unload the container he's in next time we make port." he left it at that as the laughter flooded the ship again.

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In Japan two young men shivered before continueing to watch the buriel cerimony though they had now body both despetly hopeing the the man being given a funral was truly dead.

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**Cat**


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